5 Dalit students debarred as scholarship row takes casteist turn

TINDIVANAM : About 40 Dalit engineering students from Bihar studying in a private college in Puducherry, are staring at an uncertain future after the Centre slashed scholarships to SC/ST students from poor families.

With their fees not reaching the institution, the authorities have allegedly forced some of them to wash plates at the hostel, leading to a fracas with the warden that finally resulted in five of them being debarred for a year. They have now taken refuge inside a small, dingy room at a private mansion in nearby Villupuram. This is reminiscent of the Rohit Vemula incident in University of Hyderabad last year, where the 26-year-old research scholar committed suicide after his fellowship was scrapped and expelled from the hostel along with four others.